Medical Dictionary: Comprehensive Medical Terminology Search

While this visually simple service leaves something to be desired in terms of aesthetics, it is a powerful tool for readers who may sometimes find themselves befuddled by the multitude of terminologies in the medical world. Readers who have a confusing medical word or phrase that they want to understand may simply type or paste it into the search box. For instance, entering “kainic acid” returns the explanation that this substance is “a glutamate analogue that exhibits powerful and long-acting excitatory and toxic activity on neurons.” The search engine also allows readers to select “fuzzy search” when they are not certain how to spell a term. This activates an Internet-wide search that clarifies the search. In addition, readers may scout the dictionary by letter, which can make for hours of entertainment as one scrolls through definitions of C factors, C fibers, C genes, C group viruses, and so on. This will be added to Healthcare Resources Subject Tracer™. From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2015. https://www.scout.wisc.edu